FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144  
145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   >>   >|  
ey were soon whirling along on a swift current. Though there were many rapids, landings were easy, and there was plenty of standing room everywhere, so that in two days they had the pleasure of pulling out of this Split Mountain Canyon into the Wonsits Valley, the longest opening in the whole line of canyons. Thus far, no Amerinds had been seen, not even signs of them, but here they found some tipi poles and the dead embers of a camp-fire, showing that other human beings besides themselves had traversed the lands now about them. Pushing ahead over the sluggish waters of the river in this valley, they were not long in arriving at the mouth of the Uinta River, where Powell and two others walked out to the Ute Agency, about forty miles distant up the Uinta. One of the crew of the wrecked No-Name, Frank Goodman, here decided that he had seen all the canyons his education required and took his departure. This was not unwelcome to Powell, for the boats were still heavily loaded and the three men who had composed the crew of the wrecked boat were no longer actually required. Starting again, they arrived, not far below the mouth of the Uinta, at an island where a small crop had been planted by a "squaw-man,"* who had visited Powell's camp the previous winter. On that occasion he had disclosed his intention of tilling this place and invited Powell to help himself when he passed there in his boats. The man was not at the farm, and nothing was ripe, but Hall suggested that potato-tops make good "greens." A quantity was therefore secured, and, at the noon stop, cooked and eaten, with the obvious result that all were violently sick. Luckily, the sickness was brief, and they were able to proceed by the middle of the afternoon. Often, the longing, by men living on bacon and beans, for something fresh in the vegetable line, leads to foolish experiments. * A white man married to a squaw, and living with the tribe. This Wonsits Valley soon came to an end and once more the rocks closed in, forming a canyon lacking the vegetation that had accompanied the cliffs along the river above. Because of this general barren appearance the gorge was called the Canyon of Desolation. On July 11th, they approached a rapid which seemed at first glance no more difficult to run than many they had successfully dashed through. The leading boat by Powell's direction pulled, into it, but this move was no sooner made than he perceived that at the bot
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144  
145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Powell

 

required

 

wrecked

 
living
 

Canyon

 

Wonsits

 

canyons

 

Valley

 
Luckily
 

sickness


passed

 
middle
 

afternoon

 
proceed
 

result

 

secured

 

quantity

 
greens
 

cooked

 

violently


obvious

 
suggested
 

potato

 

glance

 

difficult

 

approached

 
called
 

Desolation

 
successfully
 

sooner


perceived

 

pulled

 

dashed

 

leading

 
direction
 
appearance
 
barren
 

experiments

 

married

 

foolish


vegetable

 

cliffs

 
accompanied
 

Because

 

general

 

vegetation

 
lacking
 

closed

 

forming

 

canyon